Method for Segmentation of the Head-Neck Arteries, Brain and Skull in Medical Images

1. A method for automated segmentation of a segment of a blood vessel of a subject in a medical image comprising volumetric data, comprising: segmenting circular components in parallel planes of the volumetric data in an entire medical image scan of at least one body part containing one or more blood vessels; and for each of the circular components, identifying corresponding circular components from the circular components in adjacent planes to define a contiguous segment of corresponding circular components spanning a plurality of the planes; wherein the contiguous segment defines a segment of a blood vessel.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the corresponding circular components are defined by a maximal overlap of the circular components.

3. The method of claim 1 wherein the corresponding circular components are defined by closeness of the center of mass of the circular components.

4. The method of claim 1 wherein the medical image is a CT scan and wherein the circular components are identified from the intersection of a wide HU range and a narrow HU range.

5. A method for semi-automated identification of a seed for segmentation of a blood vessel of a head and neck of a subject in a medical image wherein the image comprises a plurality of slices, the method comprising: automatically identifying anatomical landmarks and a plurality of landmark slices containing each of the anatomical landmarks in the medical image; automatically identifying relevant landmark slices for finding the blood vessel based on positional relationships of the landmarks and the blood vessel; and manually identifying the seed for the blood vessel from within a set of slices that is constrained to the relevant landmark slices.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the landmarks comprise at least one of the lungs, trachea, brain, skull, or segmented blood vessels.

7. A method for fully automated segmentation of a segment of a blood vessel of a subject in a medical image comprising volumetric data, comprising: automatically identifying a plurality of circular components in the medical image; automatically segmenting the circular components in parallel planes of the volumetric data; and for each of the circular components, automatically identifying corresponding circular components from the circular components in adjacent planes to define a contiguous segment of corresponding circular components spanning a plurality of the planes; wherein the contiguous segment defines a segment of a blood vessel.

8. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the circular components have a boundary and are selected using a ratio between the length squared of the circular component boundary and an area of the circular component.

9. The method according to claim 7 , wherein the plurality of circular components are identified based on Hounsfield values.